Archive for May, 2012

Barbara Probst takes photographs that share more than a subject, the share a moment in time.

Via Booooooom: “In each series the same exact second is captured from different viewpoints. Her work questions the authority of a lone photograph by revealing several different representations of the same moment.”

Because we know they were taken at the same time, we’re invited to construct in our minds an idea of what the actual space was like. Probst gives us just enough visual cues like the presence of camera tripods, the framing of shots, and the orientation of the actors to invite the viewer to explore the greater structure of the photographs. Each series contains a puzzle that causes us to question any one perspective.

The puzzle of perspective brings to mind the recent exploration platformer Fez, by Polytron. In Fez, like Probst’s photographs, a shift of perspective (in Fez it’s a rotation around the Y axis) reveals connections that were previously unfathomable. In Fez, you explore a 3d environment from a 2d perspective, jumping and climbing and switching perspective in order to traverse. Fez, of course, holds many more secrets.

As we reach the last leg of development on our first project, The Unfinished Swan, we will share some of the fascinating things that we found along the way. Every Monday we’ll feature something from the world of art, architecture, music, nature, and some from places you’d never expect. These inspiration pieces are intended to reflect the tone, aesthetic, or general sense of wonder that we hope to create with The Unfinished Swan. As a bonus if we can find one, we will try to pair the post with a game that we feel explores that concept in some meaningful way, like pairing a fine wine with cheese (or a soda with jelly beans if you’re Ben).

For our first inspiration post, we found a sculpture from Austria that takes the domestic setting and flips it on its head:

The upside down house was created by Polish architects Irek Glowacki and Marek Rozanski, and was built in the Austrian village of Terfens to serve as a tourist attraction. (via buzzfeed)

I’m always fascinated by upside down spaces, especially everyday scenes. In a way, these images are what the brain actually sees when the eye receives light – due to the way light hits the retina, our eyes send us upside down images, which are then reversed by the brain. Are we perhaps, in creating upside down spaces, able to see the forms and structures for what they really are?

Souvenir is the most recent game that comes to mind that plays with this concept. Souvenir is an MFA project from Parsons that allows you to explore domestic architecture exploded in different directions and orientations — effectively unwrapping space and time. Have you seen any distorted spaces that got you thinking in a new way? Let us know in the comments!